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PROFILE

Family: Married to Lois, his second wife, for 27 years. Four grown children and five grandchildren.

Education: Bachelor's degree in public administration, San Diego State University, 1964

Career: San Diego police chief, 1975-88; assistant to the publisher for the Union-Tribune Publishing Co., 1988-91; director of the California Youth Authority, 1991-94; sheriff of San Diego County, 1995-2009.

Appointments and boards: Past president of California State Sheriffs Association, California Board of Corrections, San Diego Judicial Selection Advisory Committee.

Sheriff Bill Kolender will step down early, clearing the way for the San Diego County Board of Supervisors to name a successor before the 2010 election to replace him.

The election was already taking shape, and his departure could allow for one candidate to become an incumbent going into the campaign.

Three out of five supervisors have already endorsed Undersheriff Bill Gore, former head of the FBI office in San Diego, although they would not say yesterday whether they would appoint him sheriff on a temporary basis.

Kolender, who served San Diego County for 14 years and was also a widely respected San Diego police chief, will step down July 2.

The sheriff, who turns 74 next month and has been in ill health over recent months, began telling friends and county officials of his decision yesterday. The Sheriff's Department issued a news release last night, after The San Diego Union-Tribune sought reaction to the news from colleagues and elected officials.

Reached by telephone, Kolender said he was not prepared to discuss his retirement.

Kolender told the Union-Tribune in late 2007 that he would finish out his fourth term, but his news release said he is leaving earlier because of his wife's deteriorating health.

“I've spent over 50 years of my life in the law enforcement profession – a profession that has left me with great memories I wouldn't trade for the world,” the statement said.

Even before the official announcement, accolades for the sheriff were pouring in from all quarters.

“Bill Kolender is not replaceable,” said Dianne Jacob, chairwoman of the Board of Supervisors. “Having Bill Kolender as sheriff . . . he has been an integral part of the county team.”

San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne said Kolender is a terrific consensus-builder known for promoting diversity in his department and networking gracefully among the levels of law enforcement.

“Everybody in the county talks about this great relationship we have between the federal, the state and the local police,” Lansdowne said. “It's because of Bill Kolender. He is the person who puts that together. I see him as a mentor.”

Kolender, who leaves office as the oldest of California's 58 county sheriffs, began his career in law enforcement as a San Diego police officer in 1956. He made lieutenant inside a decade and chief by 1975.

He was the city's top lawman from 1975 to 1988, overseeing the department's response to high-profile events such as the Cleveland Elementary School shooting by Brenda Spencer in 1979 and the mass murder at a McDonald's in San Ysidro in 1984.